Text to speech converters

Reading text on screen can sometimes be difficult. Search the internet for free text to speech software
such as www.naturalreaders.com and follow the
instructions supplied. Just choose a program, download and install on to your computer and
you will be able to listen to the pages of our web site.

Translations

It is possible to translate the pages on this website using an automatic translation program.
Please note: because this type of program uses automated tools you may find that the translation
is not perfect, but it will give you a basic outline of what the page says.

What is machine translation?

It is a computer program which automatically analyses the meaning of a sentence and attempts to produce a sentence
in a different language which conveys the same meaning. No computer program can
translate correctly 100% of the time, but machine translation is useful to get the
basic ideas of a sentence.

How do I use it?

Select the language you want the page translated
to from the Google list on the menu at the bottom of the page.
Our site will remember which pages you've translated into what languages
so you don't need to do it every time you visit.

Our Privacy notice

We ask that you read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use or share personal information, your rights in relation to your personal information and how to contact us and the supervisory authority in the event that you have a complaint. This Privacy Notice tells you what to expect when we process your personal information. It applies to information about applicants, residents, tenants, leaseholders and other service users.

Who we are

We are the controller of personal information and collect, use and are responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so, we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom). Our contact details for data protection purposes are as follows.

The individual responsible for data protection compliance is our Data Protection Officer, who is contactable using the above details.

We also have a wholly-owned subsidiary, WDH Solutions, which carries out independent work.

What information we collect

We may collect the following information.

Name.

Address.

Contact information including email address and phone number.

Gender.

Ethnicity and religion.

Date of birth.

Photographic ID.

National Insurance number.

Bank details.

Employment details.

Marital status and members of the household.

CCTV images.

Benefits/council tax details.

Disabilities or vulnerabilities.

Medical details.

Information about criminal convictions and offences.

Call recordings from our contact centre.

Your correspondence and communications with us.

When you provide information about household members we assume that you do so with their full knowledge and consent.

We may hold other information about you for specific purposes for the services we provide. If you do not provide the information we need then we may not be able to provide all our services to you.

How we use your information

In the course of our activities as a registered provider of social housing, we need to collect, store and use personal information about you to enable us to deliver efficient and effective services to you including in the following areas.

Letting, renting and leasing properties.

Administering waiting lists.

Carrying out research.

Administering Housing and property grants.

Providing associated welfare services, advice and support.

Maintaining our accounts and records.

Supporting and managing our employees, agents and contractors.

Promoting equal opportunities.

Debt and benefit advice.

Prevention and detection of crime and tacking antisocial behaviour.

Prevention and detection of fraud and illegal subletting.

Employment and training support services.

Keeping you informed of new products and services and inviting you to community events and to complete customer satisfaction surveys to help monitor performance and improve services.

Where we carry out profiling to identify service or products that may be of interest to you.

Dealing with complaints and any feedback from you.

To comply with legal and regulatory obligations.

The type of information we collect about you will depend on our relationship with you and the services you use. When you apply for housing with us, on our housing application form we ask for information about you to assess your need for housing, to enable us to enter into a contract with you. We also collect information from you during the course of your tenancy in order to provide social housing and accommodation services to you and to perform our contract with you.

We collect most of this information directly from you in person by phone or email and/or through our website. However, we may also collect information from third parties such as the local authority regarding your housing and any benefits you may be entitled to, your previous landlords, health and social welfare agencies, the police and enquiries that are received from councillors, MPs or someone acting on your behalf.

We operate CCTV at our offices and premises, and these store and capture images. On occasions we may use CCTV to evidence any breaches of tenancy, alleged antisocial behaviour or criminal activity.

Special categories of personal data

We hold, collect and use special categories of personal information which includes:

physical or mental health details;

sexual life;

racial or ethnic origin; and

religious or philosophical beliefs

We use this information which is more sensitive, to better understand your needs and provide a better service, such as when we obtain information on disabilities to assess the suitability of accommodation or the need for any adaptations, when you engage with support services that we offer such as Wellbeing Caseworkers. We also use special category data to monitor equality, diversity and inclusion to ensure services are delivered appropriately, in order to comply with our legal and statutory duties under equality legislation and to meet our regulatory requirements.

We are committed to keeping your personal details up to date, and we encourage you to inform us about any changes needed to make sure your details are accurate.

Legal basis for processing your information

We collect and use your personal information because it is necessary for:

the performance of our contract with you in order to manage your tenancy or lease or other services you have engaged with or to take steps at your request before entering in to a contract;

to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;

for our legitimate interests as a registered provider or those of a third party; and

in order to protect the vital interests of you or another person.

We may also rely on your consent as a legal basis for processing your information. You have the right to withdraw consent. If we rely on consent and this is the only legal basis for processing, we will no longer process the data after consent is withdrawn.

Periods for which we will store your personal information

We will keep your personal data for no longer than necessary for the purposes that we have obtained it. We have a Records Retention Schedule which sets out how long we will keep different types of information. Once it is no longer necessary to continue processing your personal data we will delete it or anonymise it.

Promotional communications

We may use your personal information to send you updates (by email, text message, phone or post) about our products and/or services and of selected third parties.

We have a legitimate interest in processing your personal information for promotional purposes to promote our business to existing and former customers. This means we do not usually need your consent to send you promotional communications. However, where consent is needed, we will ask for this separately and clearly.

We will always treat your personal information with the utmost respect and never sell it to other organisations outside WDH for marketing purposes.

You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by emailing unsubscribe@wdh.co.uk or using the 'unsubscribe' link in emails or the ‘STOP’ number in texts.

We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you instruct us to provide further products and/or services in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.

Sharing your personal information

We are committed to making sure that your privacy is protected. Any information you provide will be held securely and in line with the GDPR. We will routinely share information across the organisation to ensure that that you receive all the services that you have requested.

We will share personal information where required with:

third parties we us to help deliver our products and or services to you, for example our contractors who carry out repairs and maintenance, payment service providers;

other third parties we use to help us run our business, such as website hosts or mailing companies;

credit reference agencies;

our insurers and brokers;

our bank;

local authority teams such as social services, benefits agencies and council tax;

relevant statutory agencies such as Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC; and

to comply with a legal requirement.

We only allow our service providers to handle your personal information if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal information. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers to ensure they can only use your personal information to provide services to us and to you. We may also share personal information with external auditors, for example in relation to ISO (International Organisation for Standards) or Investors in People accreditation and the audit of our accounts.

We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you have a number of important rights free of charge. In summary, those include rights to:

access to your personal information and to certain other supplementary information that this Privacy Notice is already designed to address;

correct any mistakes in your information which we hold;

the erasure of personal information concerning you in certain situations;

receive the personal information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain situations;

object at any time to processing of personal information concerning you for direct marketing;

object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you;

object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information; and

let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill); and

let us know the information to which your request relates.

Transferring your personal information out of the European Economic Area (EEA)

To deliver services to you, it may be necessary for us to share your personal information outside the EEA, for example if we were to use a cloud service provider based outside the EEA. These transfers are subject to special rules under European and UK data protection law. In such a situation, we will make sure that we have adequate safeguards and security measures in place as required by the GDPR.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

How to complain

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information.

The GDPR also gives you the right to complain to a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or EEA) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who can be contacted at Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF or by phone on 0303 123 1113.

Visitors to our website

We take a proactive approach to user privacy and ensure that appropriate steps are taken to protect the privacy of users of our website.

Do you need extra help?

We are committed to giving everyone equal access to information. If you would like this information in another format please phone us on 0345 8 507 507.

Cookies

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They can then be read
back by the website when required. Each cookie is unique and will contain anonymous information such as a unique
id, the site name and some characters and numbers.

Cookies are used to remember that you have logged in when you move to a different page, store your preferences,
and improve the efficiency and experience of using the website. Often cookies are deleted automatically after
you have left the website. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser
setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from using all the functions of the website.